Notes

How to wear your favorite items year-round

Some prefer having a rather fixed winter vs summer wardrobe, but I’m an advocate for a more ‘fluid’ approach. With the right styling strategy, you can wear your favorite items the entire year.

Spring isn’t here for a few months more, but you can definitely bring the feel of spring into your style already. Wearing ‘lighter’ pieces of clothing that you would only reserve for the warmer seasons, not only gives you more options but also adds sustainability points to your wardrobe as you’re really making good use of your clothes: it’s a win-win! Some call this ‘transitional dressing’ (dressing in-between the seasons), I call it common sense, so let’s break this one down.

Seasonless vs season-only items

Some items of clothing are classic pieces that transcend the seasons all together. The white shirt, a blue cashmere lightweight unconstructed carcoat, a navy jacket and a pair of jeans are true essentials. You can wear them regardless of the weather and be sure that you look appropriate for any and every season. On the other hand, we have to acknowledge that there are in fact items that are strictly winter-only or summer-only. I hope we all agree that linen shirts and shorts shouldn’t come out of your wardrobe before May the earliest and that heavy cashmere sweaters belong in temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius. As for most of your other items: layering is the secret practice that will turn them into multifunctional favorites.

Layering 101

Assuming a shirt (this could be very well one of your spring-wardrobe staples) and a jacket or coat are your starting point, you have some options for what to wear above or between these base layers. I’m a huge fan of knitwear: it makes an excellent mid layer for colder days, and a warm outer layer for milder weather. Also, knitted cardigans are easy to pack for travel. For a more sporty look, some men prefer to layer a coat with sweaters; a gentlemen that opts for a more classic style, will find a scarf to add depth and complexity to an outfit. A scarf gives you layering options in spring, fall and winter and it can be worn in 1001 different ways: on top of an overcoat, between a jacket and an overcoat, under a jacket… the possibilities are endless.

Monochrome or playing with patterns

Of course, apart from the practical side of layering, we also have to take into consideration the aesthetics. Perhaps the easiest (and my favorite) layering you can ever do is to create a monochrome look using the same harmonizing colors. This requires little skill, but the end result can be quite dashing. Alternatively, you could contrast your layers by alternating between colors or going pattern-on-pattern if you’re more advanced.